1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supporting structure of a pedal device for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various conventional structures have been devised as countermeasures at the time that an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied form the front of a vehicle. The structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 1-73464 will be described hereinafter as an example of such countermeasures.
As illustrated in FIG. 16, in the structure disclosed in JP-U No. 1-73464, a steering column 402 which covers a steering shaft 400 is supported at a vehicle body by a tilt bracket 408, which is formed from an upper plate member 404 and a pair of side plate members 406, and by a shaft 410, which passes through the side plate member 406 and supports the bottom end of the steering column 402.
A knee protector 412, which is shaped as a substantially circular arc shaped surface and is elastically deformable, is disposed at the lower side of the tilt bracket 408. The knee protector 412 is elastically supported at the lower side of the steering column 402 via elastically deformable stays 414.
In accordance with the above structure, when an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied from the front of the vehicle, the vehicle occupant starts to inertially move toward the front of the vehicle, and accordingly, the knees of the vehicle occupant start to inertially move in the same direction while the legs of the vehicle occupant are bent with the knees as the point of bending. Therefore, if the knee protector 412 were not provided, the driver's knees might contact the tilt bracket 408. However, if the knee protector 412 is disposed beneath the tilt bracket 408 as described above, the driver's knees only contact with the knee protector 412.
This structure in which the knee protector 412 is provided is useful as a countermeasure at the time that an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied from the front of the vehicle. However, countermeasures relating to the legs of the vehicle occupant can also be studied from other points of view or in many ways. For multilevel protection, it is important to provide multiple measures relating to occupant's legs.
The present inventors conceived of the idea of the present invention from this standpoint, conducted various experiments and arrived upon extremely effective countermeasures which control the displacement of a pedal device for a vehicle such as a brake pedal at the time that an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied from the front of the vehicle, by focusing on the deformation and the displacement behavior of the body panel and the like at the time such an external force is applied.